Rachel Evans – 2015-16 Chris J Melnychuk Scholarship Winner

About Rachel Evans: Rachel Evans is a visual artist who works mainly in sculpture and drawing. She became interested in animation recently as a way to increase her visual vocabulary and elaborate on the cinematic and narrative elements of sculptural installations. Nature and animals have been a major source of inspiration for Rachel since she was a child and she uses natural elements to tell personal narratives and explore human motivations. After graduating from art school at the University of Victoria in 2007 she worked and volunteered in animal welfare for seven years on Vancouver Island. She is currently works as a set carpenter in Calgary Alberta and runs The Room Gallery. www.rachelevans.ca

About Rachel’s Scholarship Film: In 2010 I adopted a dog with a troubled past. I could not decide what to name her for two weeks, until I had an ominous, lucid dream that told me very definitively what her name should be. The dream played out visually as a Super 8 film that had been drawn on with black ink and triggered a series of bizarre discoveries and coincidences in my waking life that called into question human- animal relationships and neo pagan, spiritual yearnings. In art and in my personal life I use both experiences in nature and dreams as a catalyst for deep self reflection, often seeking signifiers in natural objects that I later assemble into sculptural installations. My aim with the Chris J. Melnychuk Scholarship is to visually recreate the dream on Super 8 film and combine the footage with stop motion techniques so that I can bring both my dream and objects from my art practice to life.

I am interested in personal biology and biophillic tenancies. With art I encourage people to relate to the natural world on a visceral, intimate level and reflect on the role and representation of nature in their inner lives. This film will offer audiences an introspective, surreal journey into the parts of my subconscious mind primarily concerned with animals and nature in hopes of encouraging them to question interspecies dynamics and the culture of nature.